Members of Wilyat Sinai, the Egyptian branch of the Islamic State, have been seeking to increase their recruitment of Gazan jihadists to IS in Sinai, a senior jihadist in Gaza has told Breitbart Jerusalem.

“The actions of the Egyptian army in Sinai cause losses to our brothers in Sinai and the leadership of Wilyat Sinai wants to increase the pace of recruitment of mujahedeen from among the youth in the Gaza Strip.

The numbers coming from the Strip, our brothers explain, are unable to make up the losses caused to the mujahedeen in the Sinai,” said jihadist Abou Baker al-Maqdesi.

According to the Egyptian air force, airstrikes have been increasing over the past few weeks.

Al-Maqdesi said that Wilyat Sinai is recruiting jihadists from the Strip because many are or were members of Palestinian jihadist organizations, meaning they are better trained than the young men who join the group from the Bedouin tribes in Sinai.